


Decisions That Could Be Explained If I Had Been Drunk

by Bam4Me



Series: Stucky and a Baby [2]
Category: Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man - Fandom, the winter soldier - Fandom
Genre: Aromantic!Howard, Baby!Tony, Gen, Howard's NOT completely an asshole, M/M, Teen!Tony, but - Freeform, just not right for Steve, kid!Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-04-26 00:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4981900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Howard weren't meant to be. You know why? Cause Howard means too well, and Steve takes that too far. Really, it's not Howard's fault, promise. Though, maybe we all could learn to be a bit less selfish in the long run...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Usheryes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Usheryes/gifts).



> By decisions that could be explained if I were drunk, I actually mean the characters for once, not me... but, I make those decisions too...
> 
> Come see my sister at Usheryes.tumblr.com

The door to Steve’s craft room creaked open, making Steve glance up before going back to his picture, a black and white sketch of Tony tucked up on his tummy in his crib. It was how he had looked the last time Steve had looked at the monitor to the nursery to check up on him. He was all sweet and Steve just had to sketch that out.

 

“What did you tell me to come over for, Steve? What couldn’t you say over the phone?”

 

Bucky came into the room and sat on the couch next to his sketching friend. Steve was quiet for a minute before he shakily closed his eyes, breath stuttering out of him before going back in. “Me and Howard are getting a divorce.”

 

Bucky took in a sharp breath and held it. The kind you take when you were expecting something, but it still shocked you to hear it. Steve raised an eyebrow at him, looking unimpressed. Bucky tried to give him a smile, but it came out more as a grimace. “I uh… well, punk, I can’t say this came as all that big of a shock…”

 

Steve sighed, looking away, hand hovering above the sketch before coming down to sit on his thigh. “No. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to us either.” Steve was quiet a bit longer, looking at the monitor showing Tony’s napping form, built into the wall next to the couch. “We aren’t mad at each other, though, there have been more than enough fights between us. I can’t hate him, Buck, he never lied to me. He always said he would put SI first, and he does still now.”

 

Bucky furrowed his brows, “If nothing’s changed, then why get a divorce at all?”

 

Steve shrugged, “He never liked romance. He said that right away. He said he would be fine with me in his bed, and when I said I wanted a baby, he said okay. That had been enough for me at the time. I thought it would be later on down the line too… Tony is more than enough for me, but now, having Howard in the same bed, when he’s there at least, is like sleeping next to something cold.”

 

Bucky’s jaw worked into an annoyed set. He’d never liked Howard, had said it before Steve got married to him, but kept his mouth shut through the wedding because he was a good friend. Whenever he brought it up though, Steve always said the same thing, ‘he’s aromantic, Bucky, it’s not something he can control, at least he’s trying at all.’ Though, it seems, maybe Howard was done trying. Bucky let out a huff of air, sounding tired. “You don’t want t be part of a couple, that tries to fix a broken relationship, when it never had all the parts in the first place.”

 

Steve nodded, just as tired, “Yeah. We tried adding them. Tried dating like couples do, even added a baby to see if just being a family could help. Buck, I think that if Tones hadn’t come to us, we would have left each other three years ago at least. But, you can’t base your relationship on a baby who doesn’t know what’s going on around him half the time.”

 

Bucky snorted, “Now, that’s just not true. Tony knows what’s going on more than I do.”

 

Steve grinned, “Have you been conspiring with my baby, James Buckingham Barnes?”

 

Bucky grinned back, “I can’t help it, if, as godfather, I’m supposed to have secrets with him that no one else is privy to. It’s part of the rule book, or something like that.”

 

Steve just shook his head, looking away again. “Howard says he’s giving me full custody.”

 

Now, that did come as a shock, “Why on earth would he do that?”

 

Steve raised an eyebrow at Bucky, “You know, he’s not all _that_ bad. I wanted the baby, we only used his sperm because we weren’t sure what the effects of the super soldier serum would have on him. I stay at home all day with him, I’m the one up at three in the morning when he needs someone, and I’m Tony’s primary caregiver. Even Howard isn’t stupid enough to mess with that.”

 

Bucky finally relaxed a bit, “Good. I’m not sure I wouldn’t punch him in the face if he thought he’d take that little boy from you.”

 

“I’m glad you would defend our honor.”

 

“You moving out?”

 

Steve nodded, “Yeah, I don’t want to have to see Howard over the breakfast table any more than I have to. Which means, only when Tony’s over to see him, if I can achieve that.”

 

“You know, I never doubted that he loved Tony, at least. It just still doesn’t stand up to his love for his work.”

 

“Hmm… he’ll see him. I won’t keep them from each other. Howard says he’s setting up an account for me if I still want to be a stay at home dad. I do. Not sure if I should take it, but at least he’s being polite about this.”

 

“I would take it. What are your other options? Working for SHIELD as a soldier, risking your life every time you get a job? Of course, you could always become a fancy artist and sell some canvases covered in angry splatters and call it a ‘study on human nature as a whole’ and see what rich idiot buys it. I’m sure that could pay well.”

 

Steve frowned, “You act as though I only have two things I’m good at, Buck. How rude.”

 

“No, just that you’ve been drawing since you could pick up a pencil, and you were in the army till you got married, so, that’s two options you could do without blinking an eye. You don’t strike me as a ‘desk jocky’ Steve. You would kill yourself before the week was up.”

 

“No, not myself. My co-workers? Maybe… you’re moving in with us.”

 

Bucky frowned, but Steve knew he didn’t mean it, “Maybe I like living alone with no one but a cat that keeps throwing up on me?”

 

Steve gave him a bland look, “The only reason you don’t live _here_ is cause you and Howard don’t get along enough to stop fighting.”

 

Bucky grinned and looked at the monitor on the wall, “Heh, I think I see someone waking up. Let me go get him, huh Steve? I bet he misses Uncle Bucky.”

 

Steve watched him leave the room before getting up to put away his sketch book and get out some toys to put on the carpet for Tony.


	2. Bucky with baby Tony

I found this vine, and have now decided that this is Bucky with baby Tony.

https://vine.co/v/OIJpDYnmFF6

I could not figure out how to embed it. I read the FAQ on it, and it told me nothing, if someone can help, then that would be great.


	3. Howard Really Isn't That Bad

When Steve got home that day, he had been expecting a lot of things. Maybe Bucky would be playing with Tony in the living room and doing that cute thing where he kissed the baby until the baby was a giggling mess (which was very cute, in fact.) Or maybe Bucky would be trying to clean up cat vomit again out of the plant, because that happened a lot more often than you would think. Maybe, they were being nice and decided to make dinner, cause Steve wasn’t sure his brain was working enough right now to boil water.

 

But no, this was not on the list of expected things.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Howard made a slight groaning noise when he startled, banging his head on the pipe under the sink. “Uh, nothing?”

 

Steve nodded, going to get a soda out of the fridge. He propped himself against the counter and raised an eyebrow at Howard as he slowly extracted himself from the cabinet. Howard just smiled at him, trying to look innocent. Steve wasn’t buying it. “Apparently, there is a lot of nothing to be done under my kitchen sink.”

 

Howard looked down at the wrench in his hands and cringed, “Uh, your faucet was kind of leaky.”

 

Steve raised an eyebrow, “The faucet is _above_ the sink. You were _below_ it.”

 

Howard made a more guilty face, “Um, the garbage disposal was making some funny sounds too…”

 

Steve sighed, “Maybe I liked those funny sounds?”

 

Howard sounded like a steamed up kettle, “Well, I’m just trying to be helpful!”

 

Steve grinned at him and put the soda down on the counter, “Aww, did you miss me? Is that why you’re invading my kitchen?”

 

Howard looked away with the most _impressive_ pout on his face, “No. I wanted to come see my baby, believe it or not.”

 

Steve looked around the room, “Where is Tony?”

 

Howard looked around worriedly, “He was just-“

 

“Will you two shut _up_! I just put that boy down for a nap.”

 

Howard pouted at the doorway that Bucky was standing in, “But you took my little helper away.”

 

Bucky snorted, “He wasn’t helping much. Kept yawning and rubbing his eyes. Little boy needed his sleep.”

 

Steve turned back to Howard with a smirk, “Well, at least you’re being helpful.”

 

“I’m always helpful.”

 

Both Bucky and Steve gave him an incredulous look. He reddened, looking away, “Uh, I’m usually helpful. Sometimes _fairly_ helpful.”

 

“That’s better.”

 

***

 

Steve kneeled down in the soft grass, still nearly twice Tony’s size while he helped the little boy pick a tomato in the garden out back. It was just a tiny one, a cherry tomato, and encouraged Tony to try it. Tony made the funniest face at the slight sour to it, making Steve laugh. Tony seemed to like it though.

 

“Ugh, I find you two sickeningly adorable.”

 

Tony looked at him curiously for a second before toddling out of Steve’s arms and towards the steps leading up to the patio. He got a look of concentration on his face as he climbed them, looking intently towards Bucky’s outstretched arms. That’s what Tony liked about Bucky; he was always ready to hold Tony and make sure everything was right.

 

When Bucky had Tony settled on his hip with a smile on his face, Tony held out the extra tomato he had picked out to the man. Bucky looked down at the little red ball in Tony’s tiny sticky hand, and raised an eyebrow, “You want me to eat that?”

 

Tony nodded firmly. “Yes. It’s for you.”

 

It’s a good thing that Bucky could survive just about any ailment now, because he’d always had a fear of what germs lived on little fingers. Ew. Bucky leaned in with an amused look and picked up the little ball with his teeth, leaning back to eat it while Tony giggled at him. God, he was so damn cute.

 

He chewed, looking down at his godson’s face when Tony snuggled into his side, little head leaning on his chest. “Stevie, he probably just fed me plague germs. Do you even _know_ what germs live on a toddlers hands? Lots of them.”

 

Steve sighed, pausing on his way back into the house with a basket of garden veggies in his hands, leaning down to kiss Tony’s cheek before kissing Bucky in the same place, smiling at the way it made him give Steve a goofy smile. Bucky had always been tactile, which Steve had appreciated, growing up with him, because being that tiny and sickly, not many people were willing to be tactile with him like Bucky was.

 

“I know how germy toddlers are, but I also know that you can take it. Deal with it, Buck. Just be glad his father hasn’t been around today. Not even Lava soap can wash out the grease stains Howard manages to make.”

 

***

 

“Are you sure this is safe?”

 

Howard sighed, probably for the fifth time in as many minutes, and glared at Bucky. He turned back to Tony though, helping the small boy steady his hands on the circuit board Howard was letting him work on. He honestly thought about that for a moment though. “I’m fairly sure this is safe. I haven’t given him anything that could burn him, nothing is sharp, it’s not running feedback. I’m basically teaching him how to make one of these, but not with real parts yet. Nothing on this actually works right now.”

 

Bucky raised an eyebrow, “Then how do you know he’s learning?”

 

“Because he’s memorizing the way things go, and what everything is called. And if he’s really good, evn this young, he might learn enough to fix it, without my help.”

 

Bucky set two coffee cups on the table, sitting next to Howard who had Tony in his lap. Tony seemed engrossed in his work, mouthing words to himself behind the pacifier in his mouth, pressing a small screw driver to the dead board. “You really think he’ll be able to fix one of those soon?”

 

Howard picked up the coffee cup, taking a drink before smiling at Bucky, a rare sight, since they were usually at each other’s throats when near. They were learning to shut up and not take offence at stupid things said, for the sake of not wanting to scare Tony when Steve was at his studio and unable to sooth him. It was getting easier somewhat.

 

“To be honest, I think that if he can fix this one before the year is done, he could learn to build one before he turns five.”

 

Even Howard looked impressed when a tiny light flickered on one tiny little light bulb in the circuit board, while Bucky just jumped a little, not expecting that. “Oh god, did he just fix it?”

 

Howard smiled like a beam of light, looking so proud, “No, but he did just access a power coil. This is one bright little boy in my lap.”

 

Bucky’s smile got soft, reaching out to run one hand through soft dark curls. Tony didn’t stir much, still muttering to himself. “Yeah, he is.”

 

***

 

Tony easily had the circuit board working again before November even rolled around. Howard said that was very promising.


	4. She Does That Every Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Bucky's super awesome fun day with his perfect nephew.

“Stark. Hey Stark. Stark, look at your kid. Stark.” Howard rolled his eyes, dragging his tired head up off Steve’s kitchen table so he could glare at Bucky. He wasn’t exactly hung over, but he felt like it. It turns out, insomnia thinks it’s his friend, and building car engines at three in the morning when he needed to be at Steve’s house at six, was not a good idea.

 

Today, he was supposed to be helping his ex pick out a pre-school to go to, which meant that him and Steve had to act like they had a stable non-relationship. Apparently, if schools thought you were going to cause drama in them, they were less likely to accept you.

 

Of course, he could always just say ‘I’m Howard Stark’ and get accepted to any that Steve chose, but Steve was so honest and pure, it’d probably break his heart. Also, Steve wanted to interrogate the teachers and principals, and Howard couldn’t bring himself to say no, because when Captain America wanted to make sure his little boy would get the best that he could, you didn’t say no.

 

His eyes boggled a little when he found out the reason for Tony’s uproarious giggling that morning, having previously been lulled into a sense of ‘please let me die now’ complacency at the mere sound of ‘Tony happy, things are good’ giggling.

 

“Oh my _god_ , if you drop him, Barnes, I will disembowel you and strangle you with your own large intestine! Put that boy down right now!”

 

Bucky laughed, ignoring the threats. He lifted the metal arm again, his meat and bone hand sitting under Tony’s tiny butt while the toddler held onto the arm with a death grip that Howard knew well from his way of holding onto anything and everything he wanted, and Howard didn’t think it was a good idea for him to have.

 

Tony was lifted up again, and let out the most giggly squeal Howard had ever heard, sounding so perfect and innocent, that Howard actually faltered at the idea of making him put the boy down. Tony had such a tight grip on Bucky’s fingers with his own, and was completely wrapped around Bucky’s arm otherwise.

 

It was enchanting.

 

Steve came into the room, already peacefully grinning at the sound, because Steve was an angel like that, and the sound of children laughing and puppies barking made his day better. He stopped, looking at Tony with pure innocent joy in his eyes that kind of made Howard want to run away in fear.

 

How had he ever married someone so sweet and perfect? Shit, he’s making himself realize why he said yes to Steve’s proposal in the first place, which is bad, because if he went back down that road again, it’d make both of them hate each other with a loathing passion that probably couldn’t be fixed by their perfect son’s sweet smiles and bubbly laughter this time.

 

His heart broke a little. He tried not to let that show.

 

He turned back to see Bucky and Tony, Tony still attached to his left arm while he did arm curls with him on it, making Tony damn near scream.

 

Steve sighed, “As adorable as this is, me and Howard need to get to our meetings. Bucky, if you hurt my baby, I’ll murder you in cold blood, okay?”

 

Bucky nodded once, saluting Steve with the arm Tony was hanging off of, and Tony was red in the face by now he was laughing so hard. “Roger, Rogers!”

 

Bucky laughed at his own bad joke, and set about slowly detaching Tony from his arm, letting him cuddle up to him while Tony finally caught his breath. Steve came over and pressed a firm kiss to Tony’s head, letting the little boy reach up to grab his fingers for a few seconds before pulling back. Steve and Howard left, both of them giving Bucky warning glares behind them.

 

Bucky just chuckled, looking down at the smiling toddler in his arms. “Aww, you’re cute. I think you can spend a day with Uncle Bucky without things being complicated, huh, buba?”

 

Tony giggled again, “Yeah.”

 

***

 

Tony was a sweet little boy, but he could make trouble like it was his job.

 

Which is why this is completely Uncle Bucky’s fault.

 

Tony’s sticking with that answer, and Daddy will believe him, because Bucky is the adult. Never mind the fact that Tony already has the IQ of a teenager, because he still has the mind of a child, which means that his ideas are that of a child’s. Which means, that when Uncle Bucky stopped paying an appropriate amount of attention to him so he could go make lunch, Tony’s boredom could only be blamed on one person right now.

 

Bucky sighed, “I don’t understand why you felt the need to do that, Tones. Did the potted plant do something to upset you, because I don’t think it’ll be upsetting anyone anymore.”

 

Tony shook his head. Lunch had been delayed, by need of Tony getting a bath, since he was so covered in dirt he’d looking like a puppy who’d been digging though a garden. Which was an apt description to be honest.

 

“You weren’t paying enough attention, Uncle Bucky. Daddy says that bored little boys go looking for trouble.”

 

Bucky raised an eyebrow. Tony sounded like he knew exactly what he’d been doing when he uprooted Daddy’s favorite jade plant. Bucky had gingerly placed it back in its pot for Steve to deal with later, since he didn’t actually know enough about plants to see if it was salvageable or not. He’d have to vacuum up the living room while Tony was distracted with lunch to avoid any more ‘bored little boy’ mishaps, but at least Tony hadn’t gotten into the sugar stash. Tony Stark on a sugar rush, was like a small smart hobo, and it was amazing to watch, but only when there were two or more adults in the house to keep an eye on him at all times, which there was not right now.

 

Bucky sighed, “Head back, please. Need to wash your hair.”

 

Tony frowned, “Washed my hair last night.”

 

“And a bored little boy who wasn’t getting enough attention this morning decided to dig a hole that he’s not getting out of now. Now lean back so I can wash your hair, please.”

 

Tony sighed and tilted his head back, letting Bucky work.

 

“Hi, Miss Mittens.”

 

The cat meowed politely at Tony, before hopping up onto the tub rim next to Bucky’s body. Bucky winced, knowing what she was going to do before she did it, and sure enough, her front right paw stuck itself into the water, where she proceeded to swish it ever so slightly, and pull it back out, licking it once. “Why’s she do that, Uncle Bucky?”

 

Bucky shrugged, “I have no idea, buba. Kitties are weird.”

 

Tony nodded solemnly. Kitties are weird.

 

Less than two minutes later, she did it again, this time, losing her grip in the rim of the tub and falling in, before making a mad dash of claws and hissing angry noises, using Bucky’s thigh to propel her out of the water and back to dry land, where she took off down the hallway, howling like a mad man the whole way.

 

Tony just sighed, looking after her, “She does that every day.”

 

Bucky nodded, “Yeah. Just don’t question it. Cats will never be explained.”

 

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come see my sister as Usheryes.tumblr.com


End file.
